All in the Family featured the curmudgeonly Archie Bunker. Archie was television’s most famous grouch, blunt, blustering, straightforward and untouched by the PC crowd. He was the archetype of the conservative male. Michael desprately tried to reeducate him, but he persisted in his breviloquence.

Looking back at the last 40 years, we realize: ARCHIE WAS RIGHT!

1/10/2014

EPA, At it Again

Apparently the EPA has accomplished it mission and now is out looking for anything to do to justify its continued spot on the tax payer gravy train.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new standards for wood stoves that would reduce the maximum amount of fine particulate emissions allowed for new stoves sold in 2015 and 2019.

"When these standards are fully implemented, EPA estimates that for every dollar spent to comply with these standards, the American public will see between $118 and $267 in health benefits," it said. "Consumers will also see a monetary benefit from efficiency improvements in the new wood stoves, which use less wood to heat homes. The total health and economic benefits of the proposed standards are estimated to be at $1.8 (billion) to $2.4 billion annually."

Are wood stoves really that big of a problem for America? Really? Come on now, really? Its that big of a problem, that we need to make a federal issue out it?

I won't even get into the mathematical magic they used to come up with an economic BENIFIT of almost two and a half billion dollars EVERY YEAR after implementation of this new rule. If there was some way to use this same math and apply the economic benefit to my checking account, I could buy an island in the Caribbean and not have to live where it is cold enough to consider heating with a wood stove.

Wood heat feels great. It is a ton of work to put up the 10 cords or so of wood that I would burn a winter if I used wood. It's also a ton of work to keep it cleaned out, and keeping the ash out of everything. Most people that I know that use wood all winter live where nobody is around to be bothered by the smoke.